Shelby native writes book about Rock Hill’s Friendship Nine’

In January 1961, Clarence Graham and a group of students from Friendship College in Rock Hill, S.C., were sentenced to 30 days hard labor for trying to eat lunch.

Jackie Bridges / Staff Writer

In January 1961, Clarence Graham and a group of students from Friendship College in Rock Hill, S.C., were sentenced to 30 days hard labor for trying to eat lunch.

At McCrory’s in downtown Rock Hill, blacks were served at the back door and the counter seats were for white people only.

“We couldn’t sit down and eat like the other customers,” Graham said. “We were treated like second-class citizens.”

‘Nothing about us’

The young black college students who became known as the “Friendship Nine” have shared their story orally, but it had not been written down. A new book by Shelby native Kimberly Johnson, “No Fear for Freedom: The Story of the Friendship 9,” is the first to preserve their accounts of what happened on Jan. 31, 1961, and the days afterward.

Johnson met the men three years ago when they were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their sit-in.

“I told them what an honor it was to meet them and that I didn’t know their story and was going to look up information about them,” she said. “One of the men, Mr. Graham, spoke up and said, ‘There is nothing about us.’”

Johnson, a children’s author, couldn’t believe their story hadn’t been shared and eventually asked to write a history book about them.

“I wanted it to be more than a children’s book,” Johnson said.

At her husband’s suggestion, Johnson combined a simple telling of the story with a more in-depth history to explain the concepts of the Civil Rights movement, “Jail, No Bail,” Jim Crow laws, segregation and other important terms.

Telling the story for young and old

To learn more about the Friendship Nine, Johnson conducted interviews with each of the men involved in the sit-in and researched the history through old newspaper clippings, interviews with other people and a documentary by South Carolina public television SCETV.

“The main pages tell the story of the civil rights movement in rhyme for children,” she said. “Columns on the side go into more detail.”

Graham and his friends are pleased with how the book turned out.

“We think it depicts it as it happened,” he said. “It is a good teaching tool, and teachers and librarians are excited about the book.”

He said they do a lot of speaking engagements around Rock Hill, but now their story is in a permanent form.

“It’s history on paper. That’s why we wanted to get the book out,” Graham said. “They have listened to us talk, but now they can read our story. I have four great-grandchildren. They will be able to be a part of it and know that it happened.”

30 days hard labor

The book explains why the Friendship Nine’s sit-in was important to the civil rights movement. It was the first time any of those arrested refused to pay the fine and took the prison sentence.

The concept was called “Jail, No Bail,” and it had been proposed but everybody was scared to do it, Johnson said.

Graham said when his group was approached by Thomas Gaither, a field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality, they decided to accept the no-bail challenge.

“We were going to stay in jail,” he said. “It was very dangerous. We didn’t know what would happen, but something had to be done, and we had to do it.”

The morning they sat down at the lunch counter, he said, “We were literally dragged out of the store and into the jailhouse. We were guilty of trespassing.”

They were sentenced to 30 days on the chain gang and were released after 28 days.

“It was hard work,” he said. “We shoveled snow and sand and harvested crops on private farms. We still maintained our grades while we were in school, and we had the support of the community.”

One cold morning, he said they made them put up a barbed wire fence with bare hands. At one point, they went on a hunger strike because one of the prisoners was taken from the cell and they didn’t know what happened to him.

“They put nine men in a 9-by-9 room,” he said. “We went three days without food or water. We sang and prayed, and we were able to survive. Somebody snuck us a Baby Ruth candy bar. They were bigger back then, and we broke it into nine pieces.”

On the weekends, hundreds of people came to the prison to protest and see the men. They were allowed only a few visitors. The men endured the hardship, because they knew it had to be done, Graham said.

“We would like to believe that by doing so, we started an awareness around the country,” he said. “It was not easy, but we were able to keep the faith. We don’t regret it and had no idea we would be around talking about it now.”

Want a copy?

“No Fear for Freedom: The Story of the Friendship 9” is available from Kimberly Johnson’s website: simplycreativeworks.com. A sneak peek at the book is also available on the website.